PM Modi recently inaugurated India’s inaugural automobile in-plant railway siding project at Maruti Suzuki‘s (MSIL) facility in Hansalpur, Gujarat, through a virtual event. During his visit to Gujarat, PM Modi also launched railway projects worth Rs 85,000 crore, which included initiating 10 new Vande Bharat trains from Ahmedabad’s Sabarmati area.
The MSIL project, developed under the PM Gati Shakti mission by PM Modi in collaboration with the Gujarat government, Indian Railways, and MSIL, cost Rs 976 crore. Rahul Bharti, MSIL’s Executive Officer for Corporate Affairs, emphasized the significance of this project, highlighting it as a first-of-its-kind in-plant railway siding for any automobile company in India, showcasing the effectiveness of the Gati Shakti programme.
The development of the project was overseen by a special entity called Bahucharaji Rail Corporation Limited (BRCL), formed through a partnership between Gujarat Railway Infrastructure Development Corporation (GRIDE), Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC), and MSIL, each holding 49%, 29%, and 26% equity respectively. GRIDE is a collaboration between the Gujarat government and the Ministry of Railways.
Maruti Suzuki solely funded the railway line within the Bahucharaji plant, costing Rs 105 crore, according to Bharti. This initiative will eliminate 50,000 truck trips annually for MSIL, which plans to increase dispatches of finished cars by railway from 26% to 40% annually at full capacity. Bharti stated, “The project will save 50,000 truck trips, 35 million litres of fuel used in trucks per annum, and cut down on 1,650 tonnes per annum carbon emission. Logistics can be a good way of reducing our carbon emission, moving us towards carbon neutrality.”
He further explained, “Converting the dispatch from road to rail will benefit everyone as it reduces road congestion. A truck does an average trip of 1,600 km, and one train replaces 40 such trucks. One route of the train thereby helps us effectively eliminate 64,000 km of a truck running on the road.” The railway siding has a capacity to dispatch 3,00,000 cars per annum, with a present parking capacity of 800 cars expandable up to 3,000 cars, he added.
Till February, Maruti Suzuki has dispatched around 18 lakh cars by railways. During the current fiscal till February, 4.09 lakh cars have been dispatched by the railways, he mentioned. “Our penetration of the railway as a mode of dispatch is the highest among all car manufacturers in the country. We have done more than 21 per cent of dispatches this year, and we want to keep increasing it further,” the company’s executive officer said.
“We want to keep increasing the share of railways in our finished goods dispatched from the factory to either the dealers in India or to ship for exports. Our exports are also growing, and the company now exports 42 per cent of cars from India. It will increase drastically in the future,” he added. Bharti also provided details of the project’s timeline, stating that G-RIDE gave its formal approval in March 2017, after which the company’s internal board approved it in January 2019, and construction began in May 2020.
